EAST LANSING - Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio met with members of the media on Thursday in his final interview prior the first controlled scrimmage of the spring this Saturday.

"Going into our seventh day, I feel we are moving in the right direction," Dantonio said. "Our goal, still, is to get better every single day as we go through this, try and put one practice on top of another one and continue to give them situations and allow them to function as players.

"Things are going well, though. Depth is getting stronger and stronger and opportunities are coming for our younger players. I can't say enough about our staff, having staff continuity and teaching the same thing, being in the system and tweaking the system as we go."

But Dantonio feels the players he has coming back on defense will make his team formidable.

"I look at it like this," said Dantonio. "We lost three starters, two starters really. "We've got eight or nine guys back with starting experience. Those guys have only gotten better. When you have nine guys that have gotten better, we're in good shape. We are in good shape defensively. I can pretty much say with confidence that we are going to be pretty good."

Dantonio also likes what he sees from the offense.

"I think we will be very good up front on the other side of the ball as well. We have good running backs. [DB]Le'Veon Bell[/db] is having an outstanding Spring. He is not complacent and I think those other guys are showing that they can do some things as well."